Rev. David L.S. Robertson

Passage: 1 Kings 19:15-20    

  Description: Marco, our little cocker spaniel, and I have recently discovered a night path. It’s the walk we take in the evening, after dark, around part of Sunshine lake. There are no lights, except the soft glow from the windows of neighbouring homes. It’s quiet, this walk we take, except for the jingling of Marco’s tags and the calming sound of the lake’s fountain. There is an absence of brightness, an absence of noise, an absence of other humans and their dogs. The night walk is still, peaceful, and sometimes a little eerie. This is the quiet where there’s space and time for me and God and, one of the best places that provides enough emptiness for me to hear God’s question…. just like the one God posed to Elijah: What are you doing here? There are no rock-splitting winds. There is no quaking earth or fiery inferno on my night path—thankfully. But how often do we mistake these mighty cataclysmic events as somehow being the voice, judgement or will of God? Yet, the writer of 1 Kings makes it quite clear that despite hurricane force winds that tear off roofs or split brick walls, or earthquakes that collapse buildings, or forest fire infernos that consume everything in their path or powerful floods that wash parts of our way of life… God is not in any of that kind of power, despite what divine meaning we try to attach to nature’s way. God is not in any of those catastrophic forces. I find that interesting. Instead God is in a sound of sheer silence. And in the sheer silence the penetrating question about our existence comes to be. God asks, “What are we doing here?”

Passage: Galatians 5:16-26 & Ephesians 3:14-21    

  Description: I was scrolling through my Linked In news feed earlier in the week and noticed a post by an acquaintance of mine, Tim Neubauer, who worked with Samaritan’s Purse as part of the recovery efforts here in High River. His post, asked the simple question, “How then, shall we live?” Which is a very significant question for us who choose to follow in the Way of Jesus. In fact, it’s the same question that rests at the very root of today’s passage from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. A close read of Paul’s letters to the early churches always starts with words of introduction like: I Paul an apostle… to the church at Corinth, Philippi, Ephesus, Galatia. Then words of greetings, blessing, thanksgiving. Paul uses the same formula every time. His opening words are always gracious and polite—every time in every letter… except to the Galatians where he skips the customary words of blessing and thanksgiving and instead expresses astonishment and amazement at their foolishness. Paul is highly frustrated with them. His letter to the Galatians is one of the clearest expressions of his theology and answers the question, “how then, shall we live”, perhaps better than any of his other letters. Why? Paul’s frustration is caused by some zealous agitators in the Galatian community who are arguing very convincingly that to be a good Christian, the Galatian men need to be circumcised. They need to make the same form of physical and outward commitment to the faith following the Jewish custom. This infuriates Paul, because on the one hand, the Galatians are not Jewish and don’t need to be, and on the other hand the agitators are saying essentially, “it’s up to us to prove we are worthy of God’s love as something to be earned by our doing.” Paul disagrees in the strongest possible language and argues that the agitators are operating from the wrong end of the relationship. It’s not about joining an ethnic group, or custom based on one’s capacity to produce merit. Instead, it’s all about God’s relationship with us as the provider of love that is unconditional and not something to be earned. In God’s love, as Paul argues, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (3:28). Therefore, no need for circumcision. Period. Paul seems to calm down as the letter continues, but his passion does not abate. The answer to the question, how then shall we live? is to live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. It’s another way Paul goes after the bad theology surrounding circumcision. To understand the essence of Paul’s argument, we need to think like a 1st century Greek Christian mystic. Because, that is who Paul was.

Passage: John 8:31-34 & 2 Corinthians 5:17-20    

  Description: Shannon Middleton attended a Truth & Reconciliation "Living into Right Relations" weekend on behalf of our congregation. The purpose was to train more people to be witnesses to Truth & Reconciliation within our communities and to empower the work of United Church congregations in Truth & Reconciliation. In this sermon, Rev. David interviews Shannon about her experiences and her passion for this work.

Passage: Acts 1:12-14 & Acts 2:1-4    

  Description: A long time ago, before there were mountains and prairies, oceans, and lakes—a long time ago before grass grew and crickets chirped and frogs sang, a wind from God blew over the dark, watery and formless void. The Hebrew word for wind is ruach. A ruach from God, says Genesis, swept over the face of the waters. Ruach also means breath and spirit. The breath, wind and spirit of God sweeping over the waters calls the light and all creation out of the formless void. God breathes and there is life. God’s spirit moves and there is life. God’s wind blows and there is life, there is light, there is land, there is an ordering of things—all in it’s right time and right place. God’s breath is timeless, eternal, within and all around. It blows and creates the right ordering of things. It’s important to bring our awareness to the Hebrew understanding of God’s ruach. It’s how the tradition remembers and tells the story of God bringing order out of chaos, creating everything out of the void of nothingness. A long time passes and later, Jesus calls upon the breath of God as spirit, as the always moving, disturbing and compassionate creative presence of God—an untameable and divine expression of the holy mystery. Later, the tradition refers to the wind of God as mighty and violent. Acts says this wind filled the whole house where the followers of Jesus were staying. Whenever the tradition mentions God’s wind, breath, or spirit we might want to sit up a little taller because this is the Bible’s way of signalling that God’s creativity and ordering of things is about to blow through. Something big is in the works—something life-giving and life-changing.

Passage: Luke 9:10-17 & 1 John 3:16-18    

  Description: I have the fondest memories of eating with friends at their place. I notice how I relax into their presence knowing that all I have to do is enjoy the food, the conversation, and the relationship. Food is glorious and seems to taste even better when cooked by someone else. It gives rise to so many occasions that tend to the well-being of our body, mind and spirit. It's no wonder then, that food plays such a central role in the Bible. Food is mentioned all over the place—from the feast on God’s holy mountain, to references of dates and pomegranates, to eating with tax collectors and sinners, to simple suppers of bread and fish which as it turns out, feeds the masses. The Bible is full of stories that connect food with healing and compassion, love and intimacy, neighbours and friends. In today’s readings from Luke and 1 John there are two imperatives that surface for me. In Luke’s story about bread and fish, the imperative is to provide. In the letter of 1 John the imperative is to love. Both imperatives are rooted in the heart of God. There is a common wisdom that says food tastes extra special when it is prepared in love. The words from each of the readings today are embraced by love that is expressed through compassionate acts of provision and kindness. As I sit with today’s readings, I realize again that the best expression of the Christian faith is when we share our resources, when we make sacrificial gestures of generosity in order to ensure the well-being of one another and the community around us.